Elliott and Michael are best friends. They’re of different temperaments. Elliott is boisterous and outgoing. Michael is more tentative and shy. One day, Elliott dies in an accident. He’s allowed to come back to earth, where he can only be seen by Michael. Elliott is tasked with finding Michael a new best friend. Only then will Elliott earn his angel wings and be allowed to ascend into Heaven.
Michael wants to be friends with Ciara. Will Elliott be able to help Michael connect with Ciara, or will he mess things up for them all? Will Michael and Ciara ultimately become friends? Will Elliott earn his angel wings?
The cast is unique in the fact that most of the performers are differently-abled: John JT Tucker Jr. (Elliott), has Down syndrome. He is the star of the A&E tv series Born This Way. Domonique Brown (Michael) has autism and recurs on the Netfiix series Atypical. He’s the nephew of Marvin Gaye. Spencer Harte (Ciara) has autism and also recurs on Atypical. The supporting players include Coby Bird who has autism and will be a regular on a Netflix series to be announced; and Caley Versfelt, who has Down syndrome.
The rest of the cast is neurotypical and includes Brendan McCay, Stanson Chung, Alexa Russo and Callie Ott.
Conor Hanney wrote the book, music and lyrics. Directed by Kelsey Goeres.
do yourselves a favor and spend that little bit of your day or night seeing Ride OrDie: The Hip-Hop Musical–it will warm your heart! I had a smile on my face the entire time. And laughed through just about all of it.
Besides that it’s a really funny show, with excellent performers, and fun understandable raps, the cast features some artists with Down Syndrome and some with autism, including the three leads. And they’re all better than all the other actors I’ve seen during this year’s Fringe Festival! No lie. (And several of them are on TV series now, so you’ll actually be seeing celebrities!)
The master of beatboxing, Shaun Fisher, does a miraculous job in moving the story along with his expert vocal gift. He along with director Kelsey Goeres and talented writer, lyricist and composer Conor Hanney, are the ideal tri-fecta group in developing and executing a fun show with heart and meaning. The songs, the raps, the beat boxing and the actors all melt into a taste worthy concoction of richness and finesse. Hip-hop hooray!
What’s super amazing about this production is the majority cast of actors who have cognitive disabilities are completely undeterred in any aspect including all the dirty jokes, the slightly racy choreography and basically saying what’s absolutely on their mind in all kinds of #OMG that the rest of us politically correct driven prigs would be way too nervous to express out loud (but you’re thinkin’ it!).
do yourselves a favor and spend that little bit of your day or night seeing Ride OrDie: The Hip-Hop Musical–it will warm your heart! I had a smile on my face the entire time. And laughed through just about all of it.
Besides that it’s a really funny show, with excellent performers, and fun understandable raps, the cast features some artists with Down Syndrome and some with autism, including the three leads. And they’re all better than all the other actors I’ve seen during this year’s Fringe Festival! No lie. (And several of them are on TV series now, so you’ll actually be seeing celebrities!)
The master of beatboxing, Shaun Fisher, does a miraculous job in moving the story along with his expert vocal gift. He along with director Kelsey Goeres and talented writer, lyricist and composer Conor Hanney, are the ideal tri-fecta group in developing and executing a fun show with heart and meaning. The songs, the raps, the beat boxing and the actors all melt into a taste worthy concoction of richness and finesse. Hip-hop hooray!
What’s super amazing about this production is the majority cast of actors who have cognitive disabilities are completely undeterred in any aspect including all the dirty jokes, the slightly racy choreography and basically saying what’s absolutely on their mind in all kinds of #OMG that the rest of us politically correct driven prigs would be way too nervous to express out loud (but you’re thinkin’ it!).
